Category: RECORD REVIEWS

Record Review: Titus Andronicus’ “A Productive Cough”
The shift that Titus Andronicus makes with A Productive Cough shouldn’t catch us off guard—long have Patrick Stickles and Co.

Franz Ferdinand: All My Friends
Franz Ferdinand is playing at James Murphy’s house. One of the best Franz Ferdinand performances is on an LCD Soundsystem

Record Review: Franz Ferdinand’s “Always Ascending”
Franz Ferdinand seems to have a thing for laziness. In addition to the Glasgow band’s generally louche persona, there’s a

Record Review: The Decemberists’ “I’ll Be Your Girl”
Anyone who’s been cussed out by “Ben Franklin’s Song” knows Colin Meloy still has some poison left in his quill.

Record Review: Weezer’s “Weezer”
Weezer, the 10th album by Weezer, is about as good (or bad, your call) as Weezer, several measures worse than

Record Review: The Late Greats’ “Kids You Knew”
Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream and Jesus And Mary Chain fame is often noted with the phrase, “A band is only

Record Review: Erroll Garner “The Complete Concert By The Sea”
Sixty years ago today, explosively melodic jazz pianist Erroll Garner lit a fire in a Carmel By The Sea, Calif.,

Essential New Music: Thee Oh Sees’ “Mutilator Defeated At Last”
I have no doubt that John Dwyer and the occasionally rotating crew of musicians he calls Thee Oh Sees are

Essential New Music: Ryan Adams’ “Live At Carnegie Hall”
According to William Blake, “The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom … you never know what is

Essential New Music: Kinski’s “7 (Or 8)”
Continuing their film-buff aesthetic (band moniker plus the director their side project Herzog is named for—look it up if necessary)

Essential New Music: Jim O’Rourke’s “Simple Songs”
It’s not as if Jim O’Rourke made easily digestible vocal records when he was part of the indie-avant pop milieu

Essential New Music: Mates Of State’s “You’re Going To Make It”
The pleasantly cacophonous joy of Kori Gardner and Jason Hammel is the unpredictable blessing and occasional curse of Mates Of